Fire Eyes
by Golden Snowflake
Summary: "And the only solace I find is that you and the rest of your ilk will never grace the halls of human history with your wit or ingenuity. You will die, and your absence of an impact on the course of the human race will doom you to be forgotten. You will amount to nothing." Double Dee says what's on his mind, and Kevin holds him to it.
1. Adult Children on Wednesdays

Hello, folks. Welp, I don't have much to say for myself.

I DIDN'T CLIMB ABOARD THE BANDWAGON. IT RAN ME OVER AND I'M STUCK IN ITS GRILL.

Wagons don't have grills, do they?

Huh.

Uh, anyway, the first story mentioned is A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. (I plan to warn you ahead of time that I'm going to be referencing particular stories so I won't spoil them if you're interested in reading them yourself.) The other one is The Cask of Amontillado by Poe.

What's this? Am I coercing people into reading classic literature? I really _have_ become a monster. o3o

Anyway, I try not to dwell on them any more than is necessary for the plot, so bear with me if you're so inclined.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The day had been an exceptionally normal one, although the tension building amongst the student body from being trapped within their prison of bricks and mortar was threatening to burst the windows. Christmas break was over and New Year's Day had passed in the blink of an eye. Finals were too far off to be a threat and too close to allow anyone to smile honestly. The violence with which the two hundred adolescents shoved themselves from their seats at 2:30 could easily have been mistaken for a small-scale earthquake.

The mush that had once been Peach Creek's football field meant that there would, again, be no practice, leaving Kevin edging from listless toward aggravation. He waved Nazz off, earning an irritated scoff from one of his teammates lingering near her, and unchained his bike from the rack in the parking lot.

When he saw the scrawny genius humming and trotting down the sidewalk, almost home already because _honors students get out a period early_, it didn't occur to the athlete _not_ to pick on him. The definition of cliché that he was, Double Dee was clad in an oversized sweater with a stupid band of diamonds wrapping around the chest, reading a thick, purple book, one he'd seen kids tossing in their lockers for the past month and a half.

In the span of two seconds, he had steered his bike across the road and leaned over the battered sidewalk, smacking the paperback from the genius's hands before Eddward knew anyone was beside him. It clattered onto the asphalt, spilling yellowed pages from its fragile spine. There was a strangled cry as he swerved away, and instead of pedaling off, the redhead opted for skidding to a halt on the other side of the street to watch the Edd's reaction.

The black-capped kid was standing still, his hands balled into fists and his teeth bared. His face was staining red and, startling Kevin, there seemed to be tears in his eyes. He sucked in a breath, let it out sharply, then inhaled once more. His voice trembled as he spoke.

"Do you know why the world is the way it is? Because adult children like you, _Kevin_, are content to live your merry lives completely ignorant to the true meaning of humanity - of self-awareness - of philosophy!" He paused to suck in a breath, shoulders drawn up tight and his tiny fists shaking. "And the only solace I find is that you and the rest of your ilk will never grace the halls of human history with your wit or ingenuity. You will die, and your absence of an impact on the course of the human race will doom you to be forgotten. You will amount to _nothing_."

Kevin gaped at the scrawny, black-capped boy, his hands hanging limply at his sides. Eddward spun on his heel and stormed, sweater diamonds and all, onto his porch, slamming the door behind him.

"Geez," Kevin finally found his voice to say, finding his handles and nudging the kickstand back up. "Dork."

-x-

The petite high-school scholar spent the next approximate week undeterred from his studies, writing reviews on several dark-matter articles, applying for a plethora of scholarships, and testing out different detergents and taking notes on how they made his clothing feel. Ed was out of school due to food poisoning (Double Dee suspected that he had attempted to eat something in the wood shop, as this had proven to be the culprit the last two times,) and Eddy was grounded for being caught with magazines that were part of his class on human anatomy, he _swore_. The chill of winter was ebbing away in bursts of green and patches of damp sunlight. He strode up to his door on Thursday afternoon, clutching the mail to his chest and fumbling in the zip-pocket of his bag for his house keys. He certainly wasn't expecting a tall, lanky redhead to be leaned against the pale gold siding of his house, hands shoved in baggy pockets, and thus was not prepared at all for him. Eddward let out a profoundly undignified shriek.

"Chill, shrimp," came Kevin's cool retort, his bored expression downcast.

"I am obligated to ask what you are doing loitering on my meticulously manicured lawn." The black-capped boy's eyes were enormous despite the anger in his voice.

"I was just thinkin'."

Knees trembling ever so slightly as he awaited a satisfying explanation, Eddward blinked, molding the stack of envelopes to the front of his auburn jacket. The quarterback kicked at a dandelion that was shriveled up on the sidewalk. "I'm kinda hard on you and your dweeby friends, and you were pretty pissed the other day when I busted up your book. I figure since ya spend so much time dorking out over those things…" Hesitating, he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, shrugging tightly. "There's gotta be something to all that Hemingway crap."

Eddward's jaw dropped before he could stop it, and he snapped it closed. "Why … yes. I personally believe that there is merit to the western literary canon."

"So you could explain that stuff to me, right? Since I'm takin' the class you're in next semester."

"O-of course." When Kevin's disinterested eyes met his, Double Dee forced down the nervousness rising like bile in his throat, swallowing thickly. "I wasn't expecting company, but … if you'd be willing to wait for a bit, I could make sandwiches…"

"Nah. It's cool. 'M hangin' out with Rolf today anyways."

The silence between them was completely empty, the cool air adrift with a thousand specific nuances of disbelief and discomfort.

"Just plan on it next week. Like Wednesday." It took the redhead's prompting for the genius to realize that a response was merited. "You good with Wednesday?"

"Uh, y-yes!" At Eddward's chirp Kevin nodded once. "Yes, absolutely. Wednesday is, in fact, ideal. I look forward to our meeting of minds."

Heart thumping in his chest and hands so clammy that the mail was warping beneath them, Double Dee smiled his most brilliant smile. The jock looked at his shifting feet, then up, gaze resting somewhere off to the left of his head.

"Sweet. I'll meet ya here, I guess."

Again, he nodded, and in a tense movement the redhead lurched from the wall and returned to his bike. Eddward swallowed again, measuring his pulse, and pulled the keys out of his bag.

-x-

The following days passed oddly for Double Dee. Some hours passed normally, some were spend consumed with inexplicable anxiety, which the genius attributed to the load of coursework he was taking, despite the fact that the daunting pressure had always given him a sense of purpose before. Sometimes he thought that it was caused by Eddy, who had recently decided that _cunt_ was the most beautiful and applicable word ever invented, prompting at least one lecture a day by Eddward on how misogyny was perpetrated by men who were so insecure in their masculinity that they had to belittle the opposite gender to feel adequate. Eddy would roll his eyes and stab at his macaroni salad, and Ed, in all his genuine delight, would remind their short friend that soggy gym tees were, indeed, unnecessary. Occasionally Eddward would suspect that his upcoming studying session was the source of his nerves, which he supposed made sense. Kevin had been, as Eddy would insist, the bane of the trio's existence for several years, though it could be argued that Eddy's constant patronizing of the rest of the cul-de-sac was why everyone was so frequently irritated with the three. After they'd left to search for Eddy's brother, there had been a noticeable shift in the group's demeanor toward Eddward and his best friends, and now, there was very little interaction between himself and Kevin, if any at all.

It was profoundly strange for the multifaceted athlete to be petitioning him for academic enrichment now.

Excluding the few moments when he would wake up overcome with nervousness, his chest aflutter and his hands fisted in his neatly-made sheets, the weekend and the pair of days following resembled normal.

When the final bell rang on Wednesday afternoon, fear gripped him so tight that Eddward wasn't sure he could stand without fainting.

"What's the _matter _with you, Sockhead?"

Muttering under his breath, Double Dee spared Eddy a quick glance as he stepped carefully through the flood of bodies crashing down the hallway.

"Double Dee is less here than a Chinaman on Neptune," Ed observed, earning a nod from the shorter of the pair.

"Are ya coming over tonight, Double Dee? You haven't given me a straight answer all week. Is it because of that stupid math test you were yammerin' on about all weekend?"

"I just would like to be alone tonight," Eddward finally said, his voice rising to an audible level. Lying about Kevin made a twinge of guilt twist in his gut, but it was easier than explaining that he was meeting the kid that Eddy despised more than watching the Home Shopping Channel with his grandma. "I'll accompany you gentlemen to the movies on Friday, however, as scheduled."

"Okay." Eddy shrugged. "S'all you needed to say, Sockhead."

Nobody was around when the genius reached his driveway, and Eddward let out a small, peculiar chuckle, stepping inside with relief. He shed his shoes and thoroughly washed his hands and face before changing into a fresh shirt and sweatpants, and he dawned a pair of socks that were delightfully fluffy from a washing in the detergent he had chosen as his favorite. He unpacked his book bag, finding the pencil in his desk drawer that was reserved for Wednesday homework, and as he sat down to open his math book, there was a knock at the door.

The mass of his stomach felt as if it had multiplied a thousand fold, causing it to crash through his torso and onto the floor.

It took a few moments of panicked breathing (in through the nose, out through the mouth) to convince the white blots of anxiety to recede from his vision at the prospect of the towering bully looming on his doorstep. Delicate fingers giving a shudder, Eddward grabbed the doorknob and pulled it open. "Why h-hello, Kevin."

Clad in a collared zip-up jacket and his usual backwards cap, the redhead glanced up at the smaller kid's face. "S'up dork?"

"I wasn't convinced that you'd be coming," Edd stated, forcing the flutter out of his words. "My apologies! Come in."

Kevin kicked his shoes off, scooting them onto the mat next to the door. "Bike's being repainted," he explained gruffly, jerking the arm that was looped around a skateboard. "It okay if I…?"

"Oh, absolutely! Just leave it wherever you'd like. Can I interest you in some lemonade? A soda, perhaps?"

"Sure, whatever." The black-capped boy backed up a step, smiling politely and wondering why the grime-covered wheels of the skateboard against the wall seemed like such a triviality at the moment. "Thanks," his guest uttered awkwardly as he turned his back and hurried into the kitchen.

Upon returning with two sodas, one diet and one normal, Double Dee asked whether they should set up at his desk in his bedroom or out in the living room. "Living room's fine" was the athlete's reply, so the scholar grabbed two coasters and set their beverages down before padding wordlessly to his room to retrieve his textbook and a pad of paper.

"Well then, Kevin-" Edd seated himself on the opposite end of the couch from the boy with the looming presence, placing his book so its bottom was parallel with the coffee table's edge. "What would you like to start with?"

The redhead sipped his pop, resting an ankle on a knee. "What's in it?"

"The class is divided into three sections, the first being study of the short story, the second being poetry reading, and the third being a handful of famous plays." Already he was beginning to feel a little more in-control of circumstances. "We could start with short stories, if you have no preference."

"Sure. That's fine."

-x-x-x-

Kevin said very little as Eddward flipped through the table of contents and selected a few interesting stories. The first he chose was about an old woman who was strange and fat and disliked by the entire town. The redhead's eyes fluttered shut, bored, as his impromptu tutor began to read, his delicate fingers sweeping across the pages. Kevin tuned in about halfway through, intrigued by the light in the younger nerd's eyes, and forced himself to listen to the eager rise and fall of his small voice. She banged some guy and the townspeople had their panties in a bunch about it, then he disappeared one day. His interest was piqued when Edd turned a flimsy, translucent page and cleared his throat softly before setting into the last section. The chick got old and died, and she somehow had a slave up until this point who took off as soon as the men from town came knocking. Hearing the 'n-word' spill past the nerd's lips made Kevin's eyebrows pop up almost to the brim of his hat, but Double Dee kept reading. They went into her house and the blinds made everything look pink, and they followed the stench up to her bedroom.

The man who'd disappeared years ago was in her bed, rotted down to bones.

Eddward's dark eyes flashed to him, a small smile flickering across his face. "A remarkable idea, isn't it?"

The sincerity in his voice made Kevin sniff in amusement. "Sorta, I guess."

A half-smile stretched across the scholar's face. "You wouldn't consider finding a man murdered and rotting away beside the neighborhood loon remarkable?"

"Well- yeah." Kevin shrugged one shoulder and fidgeted. "But it's not real. It's just words."

The expression on Eddward's face was unlike anything he'd seen before. He grabbed a swatch of pages and flipped them to, evidently, exactly what he was looking for. Unseen, Kevin's eyes widened. Double Dee cleared his throat and scooted despite the fact that his bottom went no closer to the coffee table.

"The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge."

"Oh my God." The black-capped kid glanced up as Kevin scrubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes.

"Kevin, I must insist, this story in particular is-"

"Dude, come _on_. Did you just hear the words that came out of your mouth? I don't think I can do this."

"_The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could._"

Eddward leaned forward, holding the book out and snapping it gently as if whipping the creases out of clean linen. Kevin's mouth closed at the volume the dork's voice had risen to. It was preposterous.

And interesting.

Kevin quieted down to listen as the smaller boy went on. The story was ridiculous and the writing was terrible, but the delight in his face as he read it was completely real. The jock tuned in and out of focus with the story, watching the animated boy through half-lidded eyes as the self-obsessed main character led his enemy through the tombs to a cask of wine before burying him alive with it.

Finishing with a flourish, Double Dee looked up at him. "That one was more appealing to one just dipping his toes into the pool of literary wealth, yes?"

"Ahh-" Rubbing the back of his head, Kevin avoided the other's gaze. "Yeah, I guess. It was a little better. I mean … Edmond Allan Poe does all the creepy shit, right?"

"Edgar, Kevin."

"Huh?"

"_Edgar_ Allan Poe."

"Oh." Kevin stared at the ceiling, making an almost inaudible whistle into the awkward silence.

"But yes, Poe is known as the first author to truly capitalize on horror and the idea of insanity. He drew from his own experience quite a bit, having been adopted after his mother died, and after choosing frivolity over diligence and flunking out of college. He married his thirteen-year-old cousin who died of tuberculosis just over a decade later, and he drank himself into a stupor for the remainder of his life. He was found in a ditch, allegedly killed by a drug and alcohol overdose."

The jock stared. "Wait. Seriously?"

"Yes," nodded the black-haired boy. "His unhappiness is believed to be the source of his vivid and dark imagination."

"So he didn't, like, sit around listening to piano music all day in frilly pants?"

"…no. He didn't."

"Dang." The athlete reclined against the back of the couch and crossed his arms. "That's pretty hardcore."

"Indeed." While his tone was calm, delight glimmered in the scholar's dark eyes at his small victory. A sudden beep caused him to jump, and he raised his arm to inspect his watch with a childlike innocence. "My! Is it five already?"

"Guess I better bounce." The redhead's sudden movement as he climbed to his feet made Edd jolt again, a shrill noise escaping his lips. The shorter boy hopped up, elbows flying out as he rushed to the door. Kevin eyed him warily, hands stuffed in his pants pockets, and strode over to shove his feet into his shoes. It took everything in Double Dee not to wince at the redhead's blatant disregard for the function of shoelaces.

"Thank you again for visiting … it's always a pleasure to discuss literature with fellow classmates." And it had been a worthwhile challenge explaining its worth to the least academically-oriented individual he knew, however brief and ineffective his attempts may have been. Kevin tucked his skateboard under his arm and straightened to his full height and a puff of cologne drifted by Eddward. Something cheap and popular, no doubt, but not the overpowering stench he was accustomed to gagging on as he weaved between hulking jocks in the halls at school. A bit lamely, Double Dee pulled open the door and allowed another polite smile to settle on his face. "I'll see you at school." Kevin's stare was unreadable.

"Thanks, again, Double Dweeb." He shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. "Whaddaya say, next week, same day?"

A genuine moment of confusion passed and Eddward only blinked at the jock. "A-ah, yes! Of course! Classic literature again, I presume?"

"Yeah." The genius swallowed, gazing self-consciously up at the brooding athlete. "That's cool. Thanks."

"Farewell," he called, waving at Kevin's back as he dropped his board and accelerated swiftly towards the pavement. Eddward closed the door softly, locking it for the night, and turned to survey the spread of notes and unused pencils on the table. Strangely, tremors of anxiety seemed to be ebbing out into his limbs, and the boy sank to the floor, releasing a shaky sigh of relief.

* * *

Having read quite a bit of fanfiction after writing this chapter, it's become pretty apparent that everyone has attempted a "Double Dee tutors Kevin and there are blatant sexual overtones" fic. I hope I can make this one in some way unique. The idea is just so completely addictive once you've seen c2ndy2c1d's art that I can't help myself. Expect the next chapter in like four hours, because I've been writing this for the last few nights instead of sleeping or, like, breathing.

Review, please? :3


	2. Yellow Wallpaper

Hellooo!

The two stories I mention in this chapter are The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. They're both pretty remarkable, in my opinion. I like things that are ironic and dark.

Thank you three for reviewing the last chapter - it's so much fun to write when someone enjoys reading it. I hope I can make this fic a delight to read. :)

Onward!

* * *

**Chapter 2**

The week completed as most do, in excruciatingly dull stretches interspersed between periods that passed too quickly to have adhered to the laws of space-time (including gaming, study halls, and sleeping.) Eddy, Ed and Double Dee saw the movie they'd been planning on all week, an offbeat drama that was half thriller and half bizarre comedy. Eddy was livid that the only flash of feminine skin in the movie was the one shown in every commercial, while Eddward was delighted by the peculiar delivery of the lines and the subtle moral at the end of the story. Ed commented gleefully on every car explosion and slung popcorn through the air as if acting out a strange and buttery interpretive dance.

May and Lee gave the three some trouble on Monday afternoon at the gas station and got the whole group of them kicked out. (The cashier had told Eddy he could come back to buy Trojans for his girlfriend once he was tall enough to ride roller coasters, and Double Dee was amazed that the police hadn't been called at the screaming fit that had ensued as Ed dragged the shortest of the trio back towards the cul-de-sac.)

Tuesday was a little tense - Eddy made mention of the sitcom everybody was watching on Wednesday offhandedly, and Eddward had mumbled a reply that implied it was unlikely that he'd come over. He could tell from the grunt and the following silence that Eddy didn't like that much.

Kevin had only crossed Double Dee's vision a handful of times in the past few days despite the fact that his house was straight across the cul-de-sac - he realized that without observing the redhead's appearances on a normal week, he had nothing to compare it to, of course, and went about his life. There was no need for apprehension, he reminded himself; Kevin had proven to be of no threat when they'd sat down to pour over material the week before. A little unenthusiastic, sure, but non-threatening.

On Wednesday, Eddward's cardiovascular system elected to simulate a minor heart attack anyway.

Arriving home as swiftly as possible, Double Dee strode quickly around, straightening vases and dusting windowsills in anticipation of his student's arrival. His masochistic side steered him to the fridge to grab a soda and he struggled to not think about the sodium and dyes as they bubbled down his throat. Being written off as an oddity was something he was quite accustomed to, but trying to sell an entire academic subject and all of its potential for enrichment to the epitome of cool, adolescent disinterest gave Edd a _tiny_ chance of success.

_That_ was what frightened him.

At around 3:15, there were three solid knocks at the door. Double Dee turned from where he sat, hands clasped in front of his spread of books and notecards, and let out a puff of air before hurrying to get the door.

Kevin's bike was propped between the siding and the neatly-trimmed hedges, and he gave a small, cool smile. "Sup, Dorko?"

"Oh, the ceiling, the stratosphere, et cetera. The usual."

The only response to the genius's quip was the peaking of one red eyebrow. The jock shouldered past him, plodding into the house. "So what've ya got lined up for today?"

"A variety of things, actually." Eddward followed him to the couch, seating himself momentarily before springing back up like he'd sat on a needle. "Oh - would you like something to drink?"

"Gimmie a Diet this time, actually." He threw one long arm over the back of the sofa, reclining. For some silly reason, Double Dee was surprised by his request, and he trotted into the kitchen to retrieve a can from the fridge. He wasn't aware of Kevin's vaguely displeased look until he had placed the unopened can on the coaster nearest his guest and took his seat. When he met Kevin's gaze, the redhead glanced at his pop and then at Eddward's half-empty one. "What? I'm not good enough for a bendy straw?"

"Certainly," the genius squawked after a split-second of silent disbelief. "My apologies! I imagined you'd find it undignified…"

Back on his feet, Double Dee stared at Kevin, and Kevin stared back. A flush rose from his shoulders all the way to his forehead as Eddward hurried back to retrieve a yellow-and-white striped straw from the Ziploc baggie in the cupboard. The athlete looked like he wasn't going to shift from his current position, so with a quick, unsure glance, Edd stuck it in himself.

"All right, then." Seating himself for _the final time, darn-it_, he clapped his small hands together. "Shall we begin?"

"Lead the way, man," came Kevin's reply.

-x-

The afternoon passed easily enough: Double Dee would read a story through, then pause and wait for Kevin to supply some sort of reaction. He would then go back through the words, pausing to observe possible double meanings and to explain how the author may have been influenced by his own life in the adding of particular details. He made sure to look up at Kevin's face as he asked what Kevin thought, and forcing the athlete to give believable responses masked the nerves that vibrated just under his skin at forcing such assertiveness. A story about a woman who died of a feeble heart was revealed to have died from realizing that her husband _hadn't_ been killed in a train wreck. One that chronicled a woman's decline into madness was actually an argument by the author against "the rest cure," which Double Dee explained as women being forced to lie down for weeks with as little stimulation as possible to help with their anxiety. "You're serious? Actual doctors told people to do that?"

"Frequently," Double Dee responded.

"That's … pretty fucked up."

While nonplussed with the redhead's wording, the genius found himself smiling at the mild interest roused in Kevin's voice. "Some fiction is just that. Other stories such as this one were an attempt to disagree with accepted medical or political facts."

Grunting, the athlete shrugged. "I see where you're coming from." His gaze lingered on the blank television screen across the room, expression betraying little.

Not fully satisfied that he was holding his guest's attention, Double Dee cleared his throat and turned his focus back to the small print on the pages. "Have you, by chance, ever heard of Margaret Atwood?"

"Nope," said the redhead curtly. There was a shifting of fabric, though, and the jock had settled closer. Taking this as an invitation - or at least, not as outright rejection - Eddward turned to the table of contents and then back into the thick of the pages.

-x-

"So what do your buddies think of our study arrangements?"

Eddward was gathering up pop cans and straightening his notecards. He turned to look at his neighbor, leaning against the wall beside the door. "Ed and Eddy think I'm working on an essay for the Peach Creek Chronicle. They hold a contest every month."

"Why'd you lie to them?"

The petite male's heart rate increased and he felt his grip tighten on the can in either hand. He blinked.

"I…" Swallowing thickly, he forced his brain to construct an answer. "Well. You know what a short fuse Eddy has. If he found out that I was spending time with you, I would never hear the end of it."

"Yeah," Kevin replied, something impossible to interpret in his eyes. Eddward turned, tossing the cans in the recycling bin under the sink. Kevin had his shoes on when he returned and was standing on the threshold, looking out into the dark.

"Kevin?"

The redhead peered over a broad shoulder at Double Dee.

"Excuse me for being forward, but…" The jock turned around, chewing on his lip as his tutor fidgeted. "If this is an attempt to make up for my book a few weeks ago, it isn't necessary. I don't harbor any hard feelings. I apologize for yelling at you as well - it was uncalled for."

"It's not about that, man." Double Dee blinked, surprised, but the figure on his doorstep said no more. Finally, he turned and grabbed his bike handles, starting down the sidewalk. "Did you mean it?"

"Uh- what?"

Kevin leveled his stare at the genius again. "What you said to me that day. Did you mean it?"

Startled beyond any ability to mask himself with politeness, Eddward murmured, "Yes."

Kevin sniffed in amusement. "Then don't apologize." He hopped on his bike despite the fact that his house was around three hundred feet away. "Next Wednesday, dork."

Eddward shut the door and stared at his socks. His throat was dry, but swallowing didn't help. Electing to have a cup of tea (for his throat, not his nerves, of course,) he went back into the kitchen.

* * *

Only Somewhat Irrelevant To The Story: I want to bone Kevin so hard.

Review, please? :3


	3. Stiletto Threats

The poems in this chapter are The Torso by Robert Duncan and The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarell. I absolutely love both of these poems.

Here we go~!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"So when are you gonna tell me what's up?"

"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean."

Frowning so hard that Double Dee _felt_ it, Eddy leaned over and slowly closed the genius's book. Double Dee sighed softly, giving in and meeting the short boy's gaze. "Seriously. You're not as mysterious as you think."

"Would you mind terribly repeating the question, Eddy?"

"He's being a sassy pants, Eddy." Having made his contribution, Ed rolled back across the carpet towards the opposite side of the room.

"Why are you being so stubborn, Double Dee? Do you think you gotta hide something from us?"

Eddward attempted to open his book once more, and Eddy gently pushed the cover back down. In a futile attempt to close the subject, the genius glared at his charismatic companion. As if the pinnacle of maturity, Eddy crossed his arms and sighed, feigning offense.

"I'm working on something. It isn't particularly significant."

"If that was true, you'd've told us about it already."

The dark-haired boy stared across the room, where Ed had gently collided with the wall. "It isn't," he insisted softly.

"You're a serial killer," Eddy guessed, earning another unamused look from his brilliant friend. "You're a drag queen. Your parents are secretly spies for the Russian mafia."

The scholar considered outlining why the last option made utterly no sense, but thought better of it. "Go on, I'm sure you'll get it eventually."

"The government is using your brain to create a super weapon … an army of Double Dees with big, bulgy heads that shoot sparks and stuff."

"I have taught him well," Ed murmured, nodding sagely from his place on the floor. He had somehow collected a bottle of dish soap and was holding it gingerly to his chest. Eddy took a moment to stare at him with a matronly look of concern.

"Okay, okay. I get it. It's private, whatever it is. Just - don't be afraid to tell us anything, okay? Well, Lumpy's a special case," he backpedaled upon realizing the warmth he was showing. "If the government really is building an army of Sockheads, it might just overload his casserole of a brain for good."

The brilliant boy smiled a little, his attention shifting to the horizontal figure scooting in circles and chewing on the collar of his jacket. "I suppose that's a relevant point."

"If you really are struttin' around in lipstick and stilettos, though, ya better tell us soon. I gotta get some pictures of that."

"Oh, don't worry, Eddy. After all, what's life without the threat of blackmail weighing heavy on your shoulders?"

The shorter boy grinned, pointing at his genius with both hands. "Exactly."

-x-

Double Dee had prepared for his afternoon with Kevin by making a plateful of tiny tofu burgers and buying the fancy brand of tea at the store - Jasmine tea, in fact, which was so decadent and wonderful that he felt almost scandalous pulling it out of the cupboard. Its light, delicious smell had already drifted into the living room when Kevin knocked an unnamed beat onto his door.

"Greetings." Edd smiled brightly, his heart fluttering more with happiness than fright.

"Hey, man." The redhead blinked, mildly surprised at the calmness in the younger man's tone. A flicker of a smile crossed his face, and as the nerd turned back to face the room, Kevin rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously.

"I prepared refreshments - that wasn't too presumptuous of me, I'm sure."

"Ah- nah, dude. Not at all. Hey, uh, Double Dee."

Now standing primly in front of the snack-adorned coffee table, the boy blinked his wide, childlike eyes.

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but Eddy was…" Frustrated, his brows pulled together, his head dropping as if to hide a blush. "I dunno, man. I'm probably just seein' things, but he looked like he was staring at me today. I told him to mind his own business and eat his vegetables, since he's a shrimp and all, but - can we-"

The completely open look on the intelligent boy's face made it almost impossible to finish his sentence. He swore on a near-poetic scale in his head.

"Let's do this in your room so the little asshole doesn't look in the window and flip shit on us."

"Oh." If there was any discomfort in Double Dee's voice, Kevin couldn't hear it over the whoosh of blood through his ears. "Very well, then. Would you mind bringing my books?"

The genius's room was so clean it was disturbing. Tiny dots moved about in a glass case that Kevin assumed was an ant colony, and where he had posters of gorgeous women, Double Dee had put up posters on the far less titillating side of anatomy. It was pretty funny, honestly.

Stranger yet were the little yellow things everywhere. It took Kevin squinting at one with the intensity of a lightning strike to realize that it actually said "SOCKS" and that he wasn't just losing it. The drawer beneath had one, too - "PANTS" - and, as a matter of fact, the glass tank across the room was slapped with one reading "ANTS." Some of them were sillier than others, and it made it seem like Double Dee was poking fun at his own obsessive-compulsiveness in a bizarre way.

"Well then, shall we resume our reading?"

Kevin looked at the books in his hands. One was a copy of the same book he'd smacked out of Double Dee's hands a couple weeks ago. One was the thick book full of short stories he'd begun to earn a grudging respect for.

"What's this one?" He slid the top two books onto his other arm, holding up the bottom one.

"That's an anthology of poetry. The thirteenth edition, to be exact." Met with the redhead's trademark unreadable look, Eddward asked, "Would you rather focus on poems today?"

"It can't be any worse than the Cask of Mike's Hard Lemonade or whatever."

Sighing, the smaller male pulled his computer chair over so they'd each have a place to sit. "Fair enough, I suppose. Would you like a tofu burger?"

-x-

To Kevin's disbelief, mini tofu burgers were delicious. He accumulated a small pile of toothpicks with little pieces of colorful paper on the top ends as the sun's rays turned pink and climbed the walls. Double Dee picked out a wide variety of poems, some about love and joy, others about death. The scholar's face lit up every time he cleared his throat and began to read lines, his voice rising and falling with emotion as his eyes darted across the pages. He read Kevin the famous Shakespeare sonnet ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.") The redhead had heard that one before.

"The last six lines are fascinating." Eddward scooted the book a little more toward the athlete, and Kevin, head rested in his palm, looked up to watch the genius read them. "But thy eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, when in eternal lines to time thou grow'st; so long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

"At least it rhymes," Kevin muttered.

"_Please_, Kevin." Double Dee turned to meet his gaze, expression sincere and eyes bright and earnest. "What do you think he's saying?"

"He's saying that the chick he's writing to isn't going to die." He shrugged as he said it. Easy enough.

"And why would the speaker be telling her this when the rest of the poem is more or less realistic?"

"What're the last couple lines again?" He tugged the book closer to him, the scholar's stare on him as he skimmed. "As long as men can breathe and eyes can see, so long lives this…"

"'This' being the poem, one would imagine." Kevin looked up at Double Dee, his face twisting. The smaller boy blinked at him. "Yes…?"

"What a stuck-up little shit!" As the redhead barked out a laugh, his tutor stared at him in confusion. "He knew he was so good that his stupid poem would be around forever, and he _told_ her that."

"My, my." Edd chuckled, hiding his grin behind his hand. "Not quite the reaction I had, but you do have a point…"

The moment following was one unlike any of those before: pleasant and comfortable. Double Dee looked at Kevin with bright, amused eyes, and Kevin looked back, his grin feral.

When the sweater-clad male spoke, the athlete found himself listening without having to feign interest. "The thing that very few members of our generation realize is that literature isn't some stuffy nonsense. It's all about very real subjects. For Shakespeare, it was love or advice."

"Or his ego," Kevin supplied. Double Dee looked pleased just to have him participating.

"There are a few lovely ones we've covered in class on war as well. They're quite interesting… shall we analyze a few of those, perhaps?"

He looked up to find Kevin shaking his head, looking at something over his shoulder.

"Um, Kevin?"

"I just can't get over your room, man." His eyes were resting on the windowsill - not the windowsill itself, Edd realized, but a small yellow rectangle pressed into the grain of the wood. Kevin's eyes then flicked to the pencil holder next to his elbow labeled "PENCILS." Then to the ceiling, conveniently adorned with a label reading "CEILING."

"I apologize if it's any distraction," the scholar found himself saying, not particularly sorry.

"What the hell are they all for?"

"I enjoy having everything labeled," Eddward answered simply. "It's calming."

Kevin turned his gaze to his tutor. "Where's your label maker?"

"In the bottom drawer in front of you. Wait, Kevin, I implore you, everything has been organized meticulously-"

Ignoring the frantic genius entirely, Kevin squeezed one eye shut, punching the lever that printed letters onto the old-fashioned labeling tape. He ripped off the yellow strip (Edd wanted to tell him that there was a button you pushed to snip the label, but it was too late) and pushed it to Double Dee's shoulder. Startled, he stared at it. The word "DORK" wasn't hard to decipher.

"Why, thank you, Kevin. How thoughtful."

"No problem." The redhead chuckled. "Hey-"

"It's _my_ label-maker." Kevin watched as the black-capped boy turned the wheel to each desired letter, far more swiftly than he had. Pulling the label off, Double Dee leaned forward. Freezing when he hit the back of his chair, the athlete's eyes went wide. Small hands pressed gingerly against the redhead's hat, smoothing the label carefully before pulling back. Kevin glared at him suspiciously - he only smiled behind his hands - and when he pulled his snapback off to look at it, it was labelled "IMBECILE."

"Wow. Thanks a lot, dweeb."

"I told you I like to have everything labeled." The look in his eyes was almost playful. "If you're willing to stick with this, you might be able to trade that for a slightly more complimentary one."

Kevin crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Slightly?"

"I am nothing if not honest," came Eddward's harmless reply. The redhead rolled his eyes and rested his arms on the table, setting his chin on them and sighing. Double Dee chuckled softly and began leafing through the book's pages.

Sonnets, haikus … the diamonds and long columns of print all had names, he knew. Some of them just rambled on and on in long, uneven lines, looking quite a bit like the ants marching through the little glass tank across the room. A bunch of white spaces caught the athlete's eye. "Hey. What was that one?"

Flipping back to it, Eddward replied, "I'm not sure. It isn't one we discussed in class."

"The Torso." Kevin read the title aloud, wondering if it was about someone mangled. After Shakespeare, it would be a welcome change of pace. Squaring the book before his small figure, Double Dee began to read.

"Most beautiful! The red-flowering eucalyptus

the madrone, the yew

Is he...

_So thou wouldst smile, and take me in thine arms_

_the sight of London to my exiled eyes_

_Is as Elysium to a new-come soul_

If he be Truth

I would dwell in the illusion of him

His hands unlocking from chambers of my male body

such an idea in man's image

rising tides that sweep me towards him

...homosexual?"

Without looking up, the jock could tell that the genius's face was beet-red. His slender fingers trembled on the desk, the sudden heat radiating off of him enough for Kevin to feel.

Unless that was the heat rising to Kevin's own face, of course.

Eddward swallowed thickly. He pulled in a shaky breath and continued, his voice cracking.

"And at the treasure of his mouth

pour forth my soul

his love commingling

I thought a Being more than vast, His body leading

into Paradise, his eyes

quickening a fir in me, a trembling

hieroglyph: At the root of the neck

_the clavicle_, for the neck is the stem of the great artery

upward into his head that is beautiful

At the rise of the pectoral muscles

_the nipples_, for the breasts are like sleeping fountains

of feeling in man, waiting above the heat of his heart,

shielding the rise and fall of his breath, to be

awakened

At the axis of his midriff

_the navel_, for in the pit of his stomach the chord from

which first he was fed has its temple

At the root of the groin

_the pubic hair_, for the torso is the stem in which the man

flowers forth and leads to the stamen of flesh in which

his seed rises

a wave of need and desire over taking me

cried out my name

(This was long ago. It was another life)

and said,

What do you want of me?

I do not know, I said. I have fallen in love. He

has brought me into heights and depths my heart

would fear without him. His look

pierces my side. fire eyes.

I have been waiting for you, he said:

I know what you desire

you do not yet know but through me.

And I am with you everywhere. In your falling

I have fallen from a high place. I have raised myself

from darkness in your rising

wherever you are

my hand in your hand seeking the locks, the keys

I am there. Gathering me, you gather

your Self.

For my Other is not a woman but a man

_the King upon whose bosom let me lie."_

The ensuing silence went on for a good thirty seconds. Double Dee had gone from red to a peculiar shade of purple.

When Kevin didn't think he could keep his heart from smashing a hole through his chest if he kept quiet for a moment longer, he let out a hoarse laugh. "God damn. That's a heck of a poem."

"Indeed," squeaked Edd. He sounded as if he was about to faint.

"It seems like your kinda poem," the jock mumbled. Immediately he wanted to punch himself.

"What?!" Double Dee turned toward him, eyes as wide as saucers.

"No! No, I mean - the body parts and stuff! It's like, medical." Kevin had his hands up and was waving them, and Eddward continued to gawk at him, blushing and horrified. "It's like he's being technical about it."

"Nipples, Kevin? _Nipples?_"

"You know what I mean!" The redhead's hands were still up as if to shield himself from the scholar. He _knew_ his fucking face was red now. "It's not like it's that big of a deal anyway."

Kevin turned back to the desk, resting his head on his hand, hiding his expression with his long fingers. When Double Dee's stare burned into the side of his head, he glared at him defensively. "What's it matter who a guy likes anyway? It's nobody's business but your own."

"F-forgive me for my skepticism."

The boy in the sweater had his hands on his knees and was looking down at them. "What do you mean by that?"

"You honestly wouldn't bully someone for being - homosexual?"

"No, I wouldn't. How long has it been since you've seen me pick on somebody?"

Having peeked up at him, Double Dee blinked his long eyelashes and looked back down. "That's a valid point."

"Double Dee, I don't have a problem with somebody unless they give me a reason to. And yes, I'm talkin' about your loudmouthed little friend."

The smaller boy didn't say anything. Kevin reached across the gap between them, and Eddward recoiled like he'd been shocked when the redhead lightly touched his shoulder.

"You okay?"

"I-" He gulped audibly. "Yes. Yes, I'm all right. Um … should we look at a few more?"

"Sure. Just - maybe some not-romantic ones, yeah?"

Nodding, Double Dee flipped a few pages. "From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose."

"Uh, wow. What's that about?"

And as quickly as the mood had become one of horrified embarrassment, it began to shift to one of lighthearted conversation. Double Dee explained that ball turrets were attached to the bottoms of aircraft in World War II and that the gunners were suspended, attempting to shoot enemies before the enemies could shoot them. Kevin thought that was "pretty rad," and while the scholar's face still reddened a bit from time to time, the humiliating moment seemed to have pushed him outside of his comfort zone enough to relax and smile freely. They poured over a few more poems about the horrors of war, the redhead watching his tutor more openly. A weight seemed to have lifted from his shoulders. His words were filled with less politeness and more direct analysis of the print on the pages, and his legs, which had been tensely glued together at the knees, actually relaxed until his feet touched the floor.

The sun was nearly setting when the sweater-clad boy stuck a planet-covered bookmark between the pages and closed the book. "I don't want to overload you with information, so we can stop here for now."

"Oh," said Kevin, as if coming out of a daze.

He walked behind the little genius as he proceeded down the perfectly-clean hall, content to occupy himself with his thoughts. Double Dee walked so carefully, so deliberately. It was … well.

Funny in kind of a charming way.

"Um, thank you again for coming over. I enjoy having someone to discuss literature with. Eddy and Ed aren't interested in the slightest." He stopped before the front door, his socks whispering softly on the carpet, and turned to face his guest. "If you like, I can send a plate of my mini tofu burgers home with-"

The breath left his lungs when he hit the wall, Kevin's broad hands on his shoulders.

When he opened his eyes, the redhead was inches away, his green eyes half-lidded and unreadable. He smelled of musk and shampoo and something horridly appealing. The terror in Double Dee's gut twisted into something sweeter at the realization. He swallowed hard.

When he spoke, the athlete's voice was thick and low. "I just can't figure you out."

The genius's lips parted, but he had no strength to force words through. Kevin's stare flickered down to his mouth and stayed there for what felt like an eternity.

The jock pulled away suddenly, leaving a vacuum where he had stood. Eddward stared straight ahead as the athlete closed the door behind himself. His vision darkened and he made a conscious effort to breathe.

It was approximately four more seconds until his knees gave out.

* * *

WHOOOAOAOEGHAGH.

If you write me a review, I'll love you forever.

:3


	4. References to Television

Hi everyone!

This chapter gave me SO much trouble. I rewrote the second half several times and spent quite a while today wailing and pacing back and fourth while my cats stared at me. I guess my advice when you get writer's block is to try rewriting the scene you're stuck on. Every attempt you don't like is one idea you've been able to eliminate, and you can look at the options you've come up with to see which direction you like the best. "Just don't give up" is the lesson here. :)

I'd also like to apologize for taking a while to add a new installment after a semi-cliffhanger. My grandma's been ill, and she passed away two weeks ago. I stayed at her house for a few nights with my aunts and my mom while she was passing. Combined with the funeral last week, I've had a lot of schoolwork to catch up on. She's the person who inspired me through her art and writing, so I'm eternally in her debt for encouraging me to pursue my passions.

To theMidgey, MissFioLee22, Noob4Lyfe, Mello Maddnes, Air Is For Important People, FortressOfFandoms, Gabble, WRITE MORE, and nakia - holy wieners, you guys have interesting names. More importantly, thank you so much for your reviews! Every time I wake up and see that you've written one, my day is immediately awesome.

Again, you guys are the best.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

It was the most terrifying Thursday of Eddward's life.

The tidy scholar fluctuated between giddy heart attacks and self-loathing heart attacks, breaking the lead of two perfectly-sharpened number 2 pencils in a single class and catching himself imagining smoldering green eyes as opposed to earning his participation points. Every time he heard a deep laugh in the halls, he would jump violently. When possible, he hid behind Ed, who swept him off his feet at three separate instances, telling him to be proud of his metamorphosis no matter what his peers thought. He prayed sincerely that Ed's words happened to be coincidental instead of eerily perceptive.

His nerves were so frayed that, on Friday, he wore the same dress sweater as the day before. He didn't notice until he was back at home, scrutinizing his every flaw in the mirror.

Double Dee spent the weekend at Eddy's house, watching two of Ed's favorite mind-numbing movies and two of Eddy's crass comedies. His selections were documentaries - one on black holes and the other on deep sea life - and Ed snored softly as Eddy squinted and frowned at the screen until he got a headache. Double Dee hugged him for trying. His short friend's response was to flail him off and exclaim, "What are ya?!" The genius simply smiled.

On Sunday they immersed themselves in videogames that allowed all three of them to work together in different roles. Ed managed to get them killed nearly half a dozen times, by aiming at Eddy's character, sending up flares and alerting enemies to their location, and, at one point, spontaneously combusting. (Eddy ranted for half an hour as he looked through the instruction booklet, saying that that wasn't even physically possible. Ed only smiled cryptically and took a bow.)

It was just before lunch on Monday when it happened.

Ed was already halfway through his container of macaroni and cheese (he was somehow eating the plastic as well, despite Double Dee's chiding,) while Eddy struggled to body-check his locker door into staying shut.

"'Sup, losers?"

Ice shot up Eddward's spine. He froze in place as his companions turned to face the looming redhead.

"What the hell do you want?" Eddy was too preoccupied with his locker to come up with a better insult.

"Need some help there? You could have your own TLC show, y'know. Little Eddy, Big World."

"Shut up, you overgrown ape. We got better things to do than listen to your yammering."

"Didn't know he knew words that big." A hand rested on Eddward's shoulder and all the ice in his veins turned to fire. "Did you teach him that, Double Dee?"

"Eddy was familiar with the concept of yammering long before I met him," Double Dee whispered.

Kevin howled with laughter, letting go of Edd's shoulder. Eddy stared in shock for a moment before yelling at the genius for turning on him, but the adrenaline screaming through his body didn't allow for any outside input to be received. Eddy was shaking a fist, glaring past Double Dee, and he knew the jock was backing up from where his livid friend was looking.

"See ya later, dorks," Kevin called after them, his tone strangely jovial. Double Dee found the courage to turn around to see him stalking off, holding up one hand in a wave. The blush from his scalp to his shoulder blades was making his long-sleeved shirt horribly uncomfortable.

"…still can't believe you picked on me in front of him," Eddy was muttering as Double Dee came back to earth.

"Double Dee is as wrecked as a sack of potatoes," Ed observed quietly.

On Tuesday, he saw the athlete talking to a group of his teammates and realized that the word "IMBECILE" was still stuck to his cap.

-x-

The genius spent no less than seven hours attempting to prepare a lesson plan. Every neatly-printed list of genres, authors, and themes became a page of words that were all crossed out. The small section at the back of the poetry book on how to structure one's reading schedule seemed to be geared toward group learning as opposed to single-person tutoring scenarios. And for the first time ever, attempting to skim the Shakespearean plays he so loved only numbed his mind and caused anxiety to buzz dully in his stomach. He didn't know what Kevin would want to read about.

He didn't know anything about Kevin at all.

The sky was low and heavy on Wednesday, mirroring the petite teen's daunting whirlwind of emotions. He became miserably aware of how obvious his panic was when Nazz tapped him on the shoulder in biology, giving him an oddly humorless look. "You okay, Double Dee? You're looking pretty pale."

"I assure you, I'm fine, Nazz." He managed a grin, but her concern only seemed to soften a little.

"Okay, if you're sure, dude." The blonde then patted his shoulder softly before returning her attention to doodling along the margins of her textbook.

He couldn't even muster the strength to smooth out the fabric of his shirt.

Upon arriving at home, Edd scrubbed his face and hands until his skin burned and found a large sweatshirt that he hoped he'd be able to simply crawl inside of until the day had passed. When his hypothesis was proven that this, indeed, was impossible, he found himself stepping onto the porch, sitting down on a folded towel saved for scrubbing floors with. He folded his hands in his lap and stared out at the cul-de-sac, shaking violently.

Eons later and almost instantly, the wiry redhead's shadow fell over him. Double Dee swallowed thickly and looked up.

"Hey," said Kevin softly.

"H-hello," Double Dee croaked. The redhead's hands were shoved in his pockets and his shoulders were drawn tight. Double Dee could smell the denim of his jeans. Putting his hands on his knees to keep them from shaking, he stood. Immediately his fingers were trying to crawl up into his oversized sleeves. "Shall we?"

The weight of the boy's presence behind him was a crushing pressure as he climbed the stairs, and when he opened the door and his socks met the carpet of his room, his pulse thumped painfully in his throat. Kevin took the seat beside his, throwing an arm over the back of the chair and remaining silent. Eddward made a concerted effort not to notice how his shirt bunched around his biceps and rode up to reveal the slightest glimpse of toned stomach.

He felt like he was going to be ill.

"Would you be averse to continuing our poetry lesson?" The book audibly shuddered against the table for a brief moment as he opened it.

"Whatever you want."

"I- ah, v-very well, then. I marked some works by Emily Dickinson I think you will find interesting."

"Yeah," Kevin rasped. "Okay."

"Because her poems were published after her death, they were thrown completely … um…" Gulping, the dark-haired boy allowed himself to glance at the jock draped over his desk chair. "…the poems were taken out of chronological order and weren't organized from first to last until recently. I tried to mark them to match the approximate order they're now accepted in - oh dear…"

"You look like you're gonna pass out. Do you need a drink or something?"

Rising gracefully out of his seat, the redhead loomed over the genius pensively. "Um, a glass of ice water, please." The older boy closed the door carefully behind him as he slipped out and Double Dee turned his attention to the poster on the wall next to his window of Albert Einstein. _What would you do in a situation like this?_ he pleaded silently.

Albert gazed stoically over his head as if far too ashamed by his lack of social skills to even acknowledge him.

Within moments, Kevin slipped back in beside him and held out a glass. Five ice cubes clanked together in it. "Here, man." Then, when Edd hesitated, "Take it."

The smaller male cupped the sweating glass in both hands, tipping his head back and taking childlike sips. The redhead's stare was unwavering as he drank. When Double Dee moved to set it down, Kevin took the cup and set it on a blank notecard. Instead of withdrawing, he stayed where he was. Double Dee watched breathlessly as long fingers crept near his clasped hands.

"Look. Just pick a poem and we'll look at it, okay? Here." He turned the book to look at it, then turned it back toward the shivering genius. "We'll start with this one. Can you read it for me?"

"I…" Double Dee looked up at him, his pulse thudding visibly in his throat. "All right."

"Go ahead," said Kevin breathlessly. He was close enough for Eddward to smell his cologne.

Blue eyes lingered on green for a moment before flicking down to the pages.

"I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading-treading-till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through-

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum-

Kept beating-beating-till I thought

My Mind was going numb-

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space-began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but an Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race

Wrecked, solitary, here-

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down-

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing-then-"

"It's pretty," Kevin murmured after a minute. Edd looked at the hand resting before him and wondered fleetingly if Kevin chewed his fingernails. "What's the story behind it?"

"Dickinson was the subject of much controversy when this was first released since it suggested that consciousness simply fizzles out after death. At the time, Christianity was considered to be the correct belief."

"So she was an atheist?"

"Well, not necessarily. She may have suffered from depression after her mother died. While she entertained visitors, she never left her house. Some of her poems are about suffering a psychotic break, though whether or not she herself is the speaker is up for interpretation. Her body of works depicts her as both enraptured with the beauty of nature and discouraged with the human race."

"So kinda like you?" The redhead's crooked grin was heartbreakingly attractive.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Double Dee's voice was thin, but he allowed himself a peek at the athlete and felt a smile spreading across his face when he realized that "IMBECILE" was still stuck firmly to the strap of Kevin's hat.

"So tell me what it means already, dork."

"Rudeness will get you nowhere, sir. I would prefer _your_ ideas before I'll be willing to share my own."

When only silence greeted him, he looked up to find the older boy smirking at him. Heat rose to his face immediately and he sputtered, head whipping back down to the book in front of him. Kevin laughed.

-x-

"Hey, dork."

"Yes?"

The genius was standing up, smoothing out the wrinkles in his baggy shirt. It was almost eight, and his parents were to be home at nine-thirty, or so the sticky note on the refrigerator said. Kevin gazed at him with those dark green eyes, not making a move to get up yet. "Are you busy Friday?"

"Um, not particularly."

"Nothing planned with the weirdoes?"

"No." He shook his head a little. "Not yet."

"Can I come over, then?"

The room seemed to shift beneath his feet. Eddward gripped the back of his chair, clearing his throat. "T-to study?"

"I got finals next week. We have 'em earlier than you lowly sophomores."

"Yes, of course!" Edd stuttered. "Goodness, how could I forget?"

"You don't mind?"

He squeezed the wood of the chair until his knuckles were white.

"Not at all."

The redhead rose above him and pushed his hat down over his thick hair. Double Dee uttered a silent _good Lord_ and cursed his ability to name every muscle that rippled beneath his short-sleeved shirt. Kevin opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated, and the frantic urgency to fill the air with words caused Eddward to make a high-pitched squeak. "Um - uh-"

Kevin blinked at him, looking genuinely nervous, and the ability to form sentences died inside him.

"I, uh," the redhead cleared his throat, rubbing the side of his neck. "I better - yeah."

"Yes!" Eddward chirped.

Kevin lingered a moment longer before turning toward the door. Double Dee followed him, scrubbing his clammy hands on his jeans. The older boy's feet reached the door and he hesitated, his eyes on the light spilling through the crack from the hallway.

After a second, Double Dee made a sound of embarrassment and shuffled past him to open the door, frightened that Kevin was waiting for him to do so and that he had just made himself look like an utterly incompetent host. The redhead tensed suddenly, half-turning to face the petite genius, and the uncertainty in his eyes was unlike anything Double Dee had seen before.

His hand had just reached the doorknob when he was shoved against the wall, making the jar on the shelf by his head and the planets suspended from the ceiling rattle.

Kevin's pupils were immense and the silence was suffocating.

"K-Kevin, I - I don't think thisismaybeI _nononoMMPH_-"

Kevin's hands and mouth silenced his protests immediately.

Before he knew what was happening, Eddward was fisting his hands in the cotton of the jock's shirt and greedily accepting the tongue that was pushing between his lips. Strong hands slid down his sides and gripped at his waist and he moaned helplessly against perfect teeth. Double Dee whined in protest when the redhead tore his lips away, only to cry out when Kevin bit his neck, sucking hard at the mark he left. "Don't - _ahhh_ - h-how will I hide-"

"Use makeup, dork," breathed the athlete before once again pressing his lips and tongue to the shuddering boy's skin, this time claiming the sensitive spot behind the genius's ear.

"Oh dear, Kevin, p-please-" The hands gripping his waist slid lower, and the petite boy arched off of the wall when the redhead's lips roamed across his collarbone. His eyes fluttered open, unseeing, and he gasped fruitlessly for air. The smell of the athlete's skin and the heat of his mouth were completely, utterly incapacitating. He squeezed the smaller male's hips, and Double Dee cried out desperately before biting his bottom lip to shut himself up. Kevin chuckled against his skin, a deep, predatory sound. It vibrated all the way down Eddward's stomach.

Suddenly, the powerful hands left his sides and the redhead stepped back. Double Dee blinked, dazed, and darkness clouded his vision at the terrifying look in the bigger male's eyes.

"Be seeing you," he murmured. He stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.

"Oh _dear,_" Double Dee murmured breathlessly, and slid down the wall in a dead faint.


	5. Contemplation

Hi, my dears! I'm elated to announce that I'm finished with my finals. My grades look good so far, so I'm extremely proud of myself. I'm getting a lot better at being calm and confident, and it shows in my school work.

I'm having surgery in a little over a week, and I'll be out of commission for about two weeks afterward. I'll try to have a chapter ready to post the night before to hold you over while I'm lazing about and feeling sorry for myself. I should be able to write some while I'm recovering as well. Wish me luck with that!

I am including c2ndy2c1d's character Nat in this fic, though I anticipate him having a pretty small role. There will probably be a few other non-canon characters as well, just so it doesn't feel like they're in the vacuum they were in in the show. I'll do my best to maintain the spirit of Ed Edd n' Eddy despite the strangers who will pop up here and there.

Have a good day. 3

* * *

**Chapter 5**

The weather was solemnly hopeful, glowing a milky yellow blotted with grayish clouds. The faculty was having a meeting day and school was cancelled. "Why not just have no school on Friday too? You know none of us are gonna be paying attention," Eddy had asked his homeroom teacher the day before. His teacher told him that, if he'd like, he could stay afterward and spend a detention helping the principal rearrange the calendar. Eddy had crossed his arms and sunk back into his seat, muttering under his breath.

Kevin sat on one of the low balance-beams, staring at the sunlight glinting off the spokes of his bike wheels. Nazz was across from him, kicking herself in half-circles on the merry-go-round. The breeze ruffled her hair, ever in its carefree bob. "Anyway, my aunt was super-pissed. I guess she actually threatened to kick my cousin out."

"Man," Kevin mumbled, staring at his bike, "that sucks."

"Dude, if there's something on your mind, just say it."

"Yeah." The redhead looked up. "Huh?"

The blonde gave a small smile, her head cocked to the side. "You know I can read you like a book. What's up?"

"Nothing. School stuff. Just worried about my grades, y'know?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Since I guess you didn't hear me, I'll tell you again. I can read you like a book." The quarterback rolled his eyes and looked away, and she pressed him. "Why are you lying to me?"

"I'm not _lying_, Nazz. I'm just kind of out of it lately."

"You are beating the bush like Mama disciplining the youngsters, Kevin," Rolf chimed in. He was on one of the rusty swings that had stood on the playground since they were small.

"Stay out of it, man. Nothin's going on."

Rolf exchanged a glance with the boy beside him, a teal-haired kid who moved to Peach Creek in high school. Nat shrugged and turned his focus back to swinging enthusiastically.

"I haven't seen you get that look since ninth grade," Nazz continued, voice hushed as Rolf and Nat resumed their chatter. "Wait … are you into someone?"

"_No_, Nazz."

"You look _possessed_, dude."

Defeated, the redhead turned back to his companion. She had been eerily perceptive since they'd become close years before. It would seem strange to anyone who didn't know them - he had finally charmed her, courted her, and gotten her in his bed. And as they lay there, arms around one another and lips meshing, the realization had hit them both.

They were simply not right for each other.

In the wake of the strange absence of physical chemistry, they had parted ways for a few weeks, but their closeness was too natural, too much a facet of everyday life, and they were soon spending time together just as they had before dating. Nazz was a sister he didn't have; a pair of eyes that saw everything, whether Kevin yet saw it himself.

And sometimes it was really fucking annoying.

"You're turning red, dude."

"No, _Nazz_, I'm not."

"In Rolf's homeland, a grueling obstacle course is the solution for the overwhelming testosterone."

"I'm not doing an obstacle course, man."

"It would be good for the tension in your thighs, broad-jaw Kevin."

"You're gettin' weird, Rolf."

Nat blinked, silently looking from the jock to the foreigner. Nazz shot Rolf an unamused look.

"Nothing's going on, Nazz. I'm just wrapped up in studying."

"Yeah," the blonde replied as Kevin's gaze returned to his bike. "Right."

-x-

"You're a Nigerian!"

"…the placement of the outer ring here should effectively emphasize the … what?"

"You're a Nigerian, aren'tcha?"

Double Dee stared at Eddy, unable to keep the bored look off his face. "I'm just going to wait and hope you start explaining why you said that."

The boy in the tank top and the ridiculous jacket covered in dollar signs cocked an eyebrow. "Those are the ones that do church on Wednesdays, right? And believe in aliens?"

"Those are Christians and Scientologists, respectively."

"Right. So which one are ya?"

"While I am intrigued by recent metaphysical discoveries that reinforce the theory of intelligent design, I have yet to commit to a specific religion, Eddy."

"Oh." The shortest of the Eds looked back down at his scribble-covered paper. "Then what're you doing on Wednesdays?"

"I simply needed to dedicate an afternoon to studying in order to give myself more structure." The black-capped boy stared at the colored pencils lined up neatly to his right, willing his face to stay cool in the wake of his shameless lie. His fingertips danced over the dollop of his mother's concealer on his neck and he wondered idly how badly it was clogging his pores.

"Some support beams will help you with that, Double Dee," Ed chimed in. He was pacing to and fro, his hands folded behind his back and a pencil tucked behind his ear. While he had yet to contribute any ideas, the look of severe concentration on his face made Eddward smile silently.

"Yeah, right. Like he doesn't have enough structure already." Eddy frowned at the discarded blueprints scattered across the table. "How 'bout instead of structuring your boring life, you structure us up some irresistibly eye-catching designs for our club brochures?"

"It would help if you knew what kind of club you were establishing, Eddy," the sock-headed boy suggested.

"_Ed's Excellence in Education_," Eddy bellowed on cue, slinging an arm around Double Dee and waving the other hand across the air as if to call the vision to life before their eyes. For a minimal membership fee, our fellow students will learn study skills that will help through the rest of their lives!"

"And haunt them after death, no doubt," Eddward muttered. "And just how do you plan to get the principal to approve your club's founding when your GPA is a C average at best?"

"That's where _you_ come in." Eddy grinned, poking his best friend in the chest. Double Dee reached to smooth out his shirt immediately. "You're gonna be the official president, while _I_ operate behind the scenes. I'm the shogun and you're the emperor."

The scholar threw his hands up in frustration. "How can you know that but think that _Nigeria is a religion?!_"

"Oatmeal and gravy is no way to live, Double Dee."

Eddy and Eddward turned to their friend. "You're gonna pull something, Ed," the shorter of the pair finally uttered. Blinking thoughtfully, the tallest of the three paced over and sat down on the floor, peering over the edge of the table and poking at the protractor sitting next to Eddy's stack of erasers. Double Dee patted him on the head affectionately.

"If you're so upset about my usage of spare time, we can set a day aside to spend time together. Saturdays, perhaps."

"Saturday fun time!" Ed crowed in agreement. Double Dee petted his short hair again, chuckling softly.

"Uh, Saturday ain't gonna work for me."

The genius and the absentminded boy peered at Eddy, surprised. "Saturday fun time," Ed protested.

"I got stuff to do on Saturday." The short male turned to his doodles, adding a few squiggles and attempting to make a face of concentration. Ed peeked at Double Dee before returning his stare back to Eddy.

"Stuff, Eddy?" The genius's tone was jovial. "_You?_"

"Yeah. I got chores and cleaning and stuff." His brows drew together, his mouth a small line as he made overlapping loops.

"Well, I support your sudden decision to fulfill your familial duties. Just as I require time for myself, you need yours."

Eddy glanced at him without turning his head, and Eddward's stomach knotted at the distinct feeling that his friend had heard through his lie. He realized he was still scratching Ed's head when the large boy's foot began tapping on the floor.

"Yeah, whatever. Hey Lumpy, can ya get us some more snacks? I think there's a bag of Cheetos on the microwave."

"I'll get it," said the petite one before Ed could get up. He hopped off of his stool, anxious for a moment to calm his frayed nerves. Taking a detour to the bathroom first to wash his hands, Eddward scrubbed especially thoroughly under the nails of the hand he'd been petting Ed with.

His reflection looked tired, but there was a glimmer of anticipation in his eyes.

Swallowing thickly, Double Dee dried his hands and headed for the kitchen.


	6. Wherein Words Are Repeated for Emphasis

Hi there.

You guys have no idea how much your encouragement means to me. Thank you times eleventy bazillion for your comments and compliments. I wish you all the best in your lives, and I hope this fic makes your day at least a teensy bit better when it's updated.

I'm having my tonsils taken out on Tuesday, so I'll be out of commission for a bit. I've got more written, but I don't know how much I'll feel like doing while recovering. This is my third surgery, so it shouldn't be scary, but I'm definitely freaked out. o_o

In case you were unaware, I'm also posting this story on Ao3 (Archive of Our Own . org). My pen name is the same there, and because the site is exclusively for adults, parts of chapters that I have edited out to make sure this fic doesn't get taken down from Fanfiction are available to read there. It's hard to cut things out, but knowing what to edit down is a huge part of writing that I have to get used to. If you're comfortable with mature content, the "full" versions of chapters will be posted on Ao3 from here on.

The next chapter should be posted in around a week; maybe a bit longer. The next time I speak to you, I will be tonsil free!

Enjoy. :)

* * *

**Chapter 6**

On Friday the school was nearly humming on its foundation with pent-up energy. The coach made sure that the televised morning announcements included that football practice would be postponed for at least two more weeks due to the monsoon-like weather forecast, and with many of the school's athletes antsy from the conclusion of the baseball season just over a month before, the air was suddenly crisp with the electricity of barely-contained frustration. The newest issue of the school newspaper was out, of course, and the main article was mentioned by name: Cnidarians, Congressmen, and Other Invertebrates by Eddward Vincent. Marie Kanker was the only student intelligent enough to get the joke, and she giggled at the witty title. May leaned over to whisper far too loudly, "What'cha laughin' at, Marie?"

"You're too stupid to understand," the blue-haired sophomore hissed back, flicking a wad of paper at the blonde's face.

"Hey, Ed." Eddy hurried up to his towering, yellowish friend after the bell rang, releasing the herd of adolescents into the halls. "Are you busy tonight?"

"Yep," Ed replied, a pout on his face as he prodded at the pile of clothing on the top shelf of his locker. "I'm a charlatan."

"A what now?" Someone made a whooshing sound and swished their hand through the air over the short boy. He peered behind him, frowning suspiciously and rubbing his head.

Ed prodded the wad of fabric a few more times, smiling when a chewed-up pencil toppled out and hit the floor. "A charlatan, silly little Eddy. Sarah's going on a date, and Mom told me I get to go along."

"A … a chaperone," the greedy kid realized, slapping a hand over his eyes. "It's like I need a translator."

"Yep," Ed affirmed, slamming his locker door. "Oh, there's Double Dee!"

The slight-framed Edd was standing at his locker a ways down toward the restrooms, plucking slim folders out of the rainbow of stationary in his orderly locker. He was in a black V-neck shirt with the only hooded jacket he owned over it - an auburn zip-up with "Peach Creek Honors Student" on the back in white, glossy lettering. Ed whisked him off his feet, effectively turning him into what looked like a squished pumpkin.

"Good heavens, Ed!" The scholar wormed an arm out of his hulking friend's embrace to hang onto his hat. "Aren't you full of pep this morning."

"Pep, yep yep," Ed agreed, setting Double Dee on his feet.

"Ed's gotta babysit his plague of a sister tonight," Eddy muttered, his binder tucked under his arm, paper corners fluttering from its every opening when he moved.

"That's quite all right, Ed. It's important to make sure that courting is conducted in a…" he gulped, though he hoped not audibly. "…chivalrous and respectful manner."

Eddy gave him a funny look, and his hickey throbbed angrily under his jacket.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, we're observing planarians today under a microscope. If I'm lucky, Mrs. Sanders might just let me take a few home!"

"Don't get a rash, Double Dee," was Eddy's response.

"Pep pep, yep yep," Ed added. He waved cheerfully as their sockheaded friend made his way toward the science wing.

-x-

The air was crisp and tiny droplets of water whipped through it, misting Double Dee's face and hands as he walked home. The breeze on his back spurred him onward, overriding the fear that threatened to explode out of the back of his mind if he dared to acknowledge it. He zipped his jacket up all the way to the collar while waiting for a minivan to clear the crosswalk and realized that his hands were shaking. Edd stomped the sick feeling out before it could take hold in the pit of his stomach. Gripping the strap of his messenger bag tightly, he looked both ways twice and continued home.

When his feet met the porch, he realized that a scuffed-up pair of tennis shoes was already there. Attached to them, as his suddenly jello-filled legs had realized, was Kevin.

"Gracious," Eddward heard himself babbling as the blood left his face and elected to reconvene in the pit of his stomach, "I didn't expect you this early, haha. I, um, I have, there's a bit of, ngh." The deafening thudding of his heart drowned out the hiss of the wind and he snapped his mouth shut. Then, suddenly: "How did you get here when school doesn't let out for another thirty minutes?"

"Stop talking. Let's get inside before anybody sees us."

Edd watched as a single delicate hand attempted to unzip the pocket of his bag that his house key was in. When he was barely able to grip the zipper between his thumb and forefinger, he tried adding his other hand, and as he made a strangled sound of frustration, the athlete pulled his hands away and extracted the key himself. A keychain in the shape of a beaker with the words "I LOVE SCIENCE" engraved on it glinted in the light as the redhead shoved it into the lock. The genius found himself being yanked inside by his wrist.

Before he could think, the jock had pulled his bag off and had flung his own backpack to the floor. He fumbled with the door lock without looking at it and attempted to put the house key on the windowsill. Before it had hit the carpet, his hands were on the genius.

"K-Kevin!" Double Dee backed away, eyes widening to the size of baseballs. "Kevin, wait, please, we have to talk!"

"There's nothing to talk about." The redhead had gotten a hold of his jacket now and was trying to hold him in place, the heat in the older male's eyes almost scaring him into submission before another jolt of adrenaline had him scrambling backward once more. He attempted to skitter into the kitchen, but his shoulder caught on the doorframe and Kevin took the opportunity to push him against the wall, fingers leaving his jacket for the warmth of his small frame.

"I vehemently disagree! The consequences of such rash decisions are sure to be- ngh…" Kevin's lips were on his neck, tongue trailing beneath his earlobe. His stomach was inches away and the heat radiating from it was already hitting the smaller boy's skin. If he allowed their bodies to brush together, he had severe doubts about the strength of his self-control. "This isn't the logical way to go about - maturity should certainly require - _don't touch me there_, I'm ticklish!"

"Ticklish, huh?" The redhead's breath on his ear did little for Edd's case, and when the fingers returned to his stomach, the sound he made certainly wasn't one of being tickled. He gripped the shoulder seams of the athlete's shirt, not caring about the damage done to the garment, trying to push him away and somehow managing to drag him closer. Kevin's mouth caught his and the teeth on his bottom lip managed to make a far more convincing argument than he could with his immense vocabulary. Delicious, delicious friction between the toned body and his own made Eddward whine, and when the athlete ground something very hot and very hard against his stomach, he tore his mouth away hard enough to bang his head on the wall.

"_Kevin!_ I implore you, desist at once! This display of graceless desire is utterly _nnngh_ inexcusable! We … we need to talk! Your sudden and inexplicable infatuation must-"

"_Inexplicable?_" Kevin's hands were still moving, _moving_, and the expression on his face terrified Eddward into silence immediately. "Have you _looked_ in a mirror? Jesus. Your face, your voice…" Large hands moved down to squeeze denim-covered flesh and Double Dee yelped. "…this tight little ass … what the fuck is _inexplicable?_"

"I … ahhh…"

Sky-blue eyes glazing over, the genius gasped for air. Friction was happening; exquisite, shuddering explosions of electricity that dulled his terror and made all of his senses impossibly sharp. Kevin kissed him again and the slight boy moaned against his tongue as he tried to mimic its movements with his own. The hands on him slid up to his waist, taking his shirt with it, and as the pressure of the wall left his back and the chill of the air conditioning hit his heated skin, it dawned on him that Kevin was carrying him up the stairs and he was doing nothing to stop it. The sticky notes on his door fluttered as it opened, and the sound of it slamming behind them made him jump in the jock's arms. The redhead grunted at the sudden sensation, his breath hot on the genius's shoulder as Eddward held onto the larger male for dear life.

When they toppled onto the bed, the fear returned a thousand fold.

"Kevin, please! _Listen to reason!_"

"Nope," the gorgeous boy growled out, shoving Double Dee's shirt up and biting his stomach. The scholar let out an undignified screech and grabbed Kevin's shoulder and his face, pushing on them with all his strength as his lower half attempted to spontaneously erupt into flames.

"I'm serious - oh my _Lord_ I - please, this has to stop immediately, your saliva carries five hundred species of microorganisms and now _they're in my naval_ good _heavens_ Kevin PLEASE! I am strongly opposed to physical intimacy without strong feelings of emotional attachment and the prospect of an exclusive relationship at the very _least!_"

Kevin pulled back from where he was nipping at the sensitive skin just above Eddward's hip, his lips flushed from the contact and his face stained dark. "Yeah," he rasped. "So what's the problem?"

Edd's heart stuttered and his eyes grew huge. "I'm … I…"

He was far too beautiful to say no to.

-x-

Lightning flashed, glimmering off of beakers and jars and the ant farm in the corner. A hundred yellow labels blinked like light bulbs and went dark.

Kevin stared at Edd, wrapped in blankets and blissfully limp. Dark threads of hair stuck out from under his beanie and his skin glistened. One delicate shoulder was exposed, and it was peppered with marks, some in the shape of teeth and others blooming into dark, shapeless blots. He blinked back sleepily and shifted.

If Kevin had possessed the energy, he would've pounced on the scholar and squeezed him until he popped.

"How're ya feeling?" Kevin's fingers trailed the length of Double Dee's forearm, roaming from elbow to small knuckles and back.

"Nice," came the raspy reply. "Very, very nice."

The jock smiled briefly. "You're pretty sweaty. Want me to help you to the bathroom?"

"Mmm." The genius grunted softly, readjusting his head on his arm. "I'll shower later."

The whisper of the rain filled the darkness, sending streaking shadows across the window.

"Need anything? Water?"

"No, I'm…" A yawn; a flash of gapped teeth. "Sleepy sleepy sleepy."

The redhead sniffed in amusement. "God damn it, you're cute."

"Hmmmn."

Pause.

"Kevin…" Eddward's eyes had drifted closed and he opened them once more. "Kevin, we didn't study. Your … you have final exams and we didn't study for them."

The jock laughed. "I've got A's in all my classes, man. I'm good."

"You…? Oh."

"Thought I was stupid, didn't you?"

"Yes."

Kevin laughed, putting a hand to his stomach. "Oh my God."

"Kevin."

"Yeah?"

"Kevin, I need to inform you of … you are a marvelous … specimen, and I … I am … you are…" Kevin grinned when he trailed off and let out a loud yawn. "Yes. Sleeeepy sleepy sleepy."

"Sure." The older boy leaned forward and nipped the genius's bottom lip. Edd moaned in response and kissed back sluggishly. "I'm gonna let myself out, okay?"

"Hmmm."

Double Dee squirmed deeper into his nest of blankets and smiled. A few strands of hair fell into his face. Kevin tucked them gingerly under the elastic of his hat, biting his lip to hold back a grin.

"Bye, dork."


	7. The Usual Nonsense

Hello again!

I had my tonsillectomy and everything went just fine. I've been in a lot of pain for the past week and couldn't do much other than lying around, so I haven't been writing much. I'll do my best to get back into the swing of things, though, now that I'm feeling better. I'm pretty pleased with this chapter and I hope you are too.

:3

* * *

**Chapter 7**

The sleep Double Dee awoke from was so blissfully deep that, though he knew something significant had happened, he couldn't recall what.

When he tried to move his legs, he remembered immediately.

"Oh."

Pushing himself onto his elbows, the brilliant boy looked down at himself. The comforter sagged away from his frame, revealing bare skin littered with reddish-purple marks.

"Oh dear…"

He looked back up at the ceiling, eyes growing wider as he realized that he was the wrong way on his bed, his clothes were strewn across the floor, and that his spine felt as if it had been snapped.

"Oh good _Lord_!"

The genius scrambled upward, limbs flailing as his muscles protested vehemently. His hair was plastered to his head with perspiration and his legs shook when he eased himself onto them. Everything reeked of Kevin.

"Oh, _I didn't even brush my teeth!_"

Wincing at the feel of his fluffy robe against sticky skin, Eddward collected an armful of clean clothing and limped into the hall. There was a new sticky note on the door.

EDDWARD,

YOU DIDN'T RESPOND WHEN WE KNOCKED. IT SEEMED AS IF YOU WERE EXTREMELY TIRED.  
REMEMBER THAT A CONSISTENT SLEEP SCHEDULE IS THE BEST FIRST STEP TO A HEALTHY AND ORDERLY LIFE!

HAVE A LOVELY DAY.

-MOTHER & FATHER

"Good Lord," the boy repeated, and shuffled to the bathroom.

He washed his hair three times instead of the usual thorough two, taking care to scrub his loofa gingerly over the throbbing hickeys covering his neck and shoulders. His spine ached enough to merit leaning against the wall for support as he lathered his body with soap. When he reached between his legs to sanitize himself as delicately as possible, the soreness made him bite his lip and turn a deep red. The same meager frame he had occupied for years now felt strangely foreign. It didn't feel like it belonged to him anymore.

Fresh hat in place, the genius checked on his various charges. His pet ladybug seemed unoffended by his having neglected to say goodnight to her and the ants marched steadily onward. The tiny potted shrub by the door was bright and glossy, and his cactus stood silently on the windowsill, ever stoic.

"My God, Jim. I'm so sorry you had to see that."

Jim said nothing.

The journey downstairs was a treacherous one, pinching every aggravated nerve and brushing every wound against the fabric of the oversized sweatshirt he'd selected. Rubbing his back, he shuffled into the kitchen, making a beeline for the pain medication. Even having acquired several inches of height since middle school, it took hopping on one foot to reach the bottle. "Curse these underdeveloped muscles," he uttered, closing the door of the medicine cabinet and setting the pills on the kitchen table. He prepared himself a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a bowl of fruit before lowering himself carefully into his seat. The lid popped off of the medicine bottle (along with a sticky note emphasizing the correct dosage) and Eddward overturned the bottle. When nothing came out, he shook it gently, hypothesizing that the mediation was in capsule form and that they were simply stuck together.

"Curse this household's aversion to over-the-counter drugs," he murmured when peering into the bottle only to find it empty.

Setting the bottle aside and picking up his mug, Eddward breathed in the aroma of rich chocolate. His stomach growled suddenly at the appetizing sensory input. Smiling a little in spite of himself, he took a sip of his steaming drink, relaxing a little at the warmth that filled him.

At the sudden heat, there was a twinge deep in his gut.

Double Dee staggered out of his chair, gripping his abdomen with both hands as his face stained red with embarrassment and horror. "_Curse my regular bowel movements!_"

-x-

"Okay, okay, I'm coming. Geez."

The pounding on the door set off a chain of explosions in his head, and he grabbed what clothing he could find, scrubbing a hand through his hair. Kevin squinted at the clock in the living room. His scowl deepened when it told him it was 7:15.

"What the heck's goin' on?!"

The door flew backward and banged against the wall harder than the jock had intended. The tall figure looming before him raised his arms and began to wave them wildly. "Make haste, he of the many athletic pursuits!"

"Rolf? What the hell, man? I'm like halfway done with sleeping."

"_Haste!_" The blue-haired foreigner grabbed the athlete by the wrists, dragging him out of the house. "The sun has not yet fully risen!"

"This better be good, dude," uttered the redhead as he fell into a jog to keep up with his hysterical neighbor.

Not surprisingly, Kevin was dragged into Rolf's yard. Random items were strewn about, although not enough to be out of the ordinary: a discarded tractor tire, some colorful blankets draped over the clothes line. The chickens watched cautiously as their caretaker led the jock across the grass, all but flinging him onto the stump next to his tool shed. Kevin crossed his arms and leveled a skeptical stare at his friend, knowing that an if an explanation were to come, it would be at Rolf's choosing.

"Ah, yes, hmmm!" The slender boy rushed back and forth, gathering things and setting them across from the stump where the athlete sat. Kevin's composure began to crack as the pile accumulated - there were lumpy candles all connected by the same wick, some kind of reddish gourds, and a few disturbingly grimy scraps of fabric decorated with some sort of ethnic pattern.

"My birthday's not until December," Kevin said, taking a wild guess at what the frantic display signified.

Rolf's head whipped around, and there was an intensity in his eyes that almost made Kevin flinch. "Have the lies of this world so deceived you?"

"Uh…"

"HERE! Rolf bestows upon you the Radish of the Second Reckoning!"

"Wow." The redhead blinked down at the bulbous radish deposited in his lap. "What the fuck."

"Hush, he of the follicles of August! We must proceed, for this is the final day of the lunar phase! You must embark on your journey into adulthood before the sun warms Nana's boil!"

"Oh. Okay."

"What's goin' on?!" A tan head popped up, peering over the fence. A piece of wood with crudely-drawn eyeballs rose to accompany it.

"Oh _great_. An audience."

"An audience is good, yes?" The foreigner was placing a strange object on his head that appeared to be made of leather and fur with ridiculous, fluffy earflaps. "It pleases the spirits to see respect paid to the good fortune of nature."

"Can I at least know why I'm gettin' splinters up my ass five hours before I should even be awake?"

"The time has come for your second birth, Kevin!" Rolf sat down cross-legged, placing either end of the rope of candles in tiny clay pots. He pulled a wooden object out of his shirt, something that sort of looked like a flute, and blew a single note. "The first birth is out of Mama's womb. The second is the birth of a man - your chin is darkened with the hairs of fertility!"

"Wait - what?"

Jonny cackled as the redhead deadpanned.

"Rolf is good, yes? There is no hiding your hullabaloo!"

"Oh my God." Kevin dragged a hand down his reddening face. "I _so_ do not need this right now."

To his horror, when the blue-haired teen began to play a disjointed melody on his flutelike instrument, another figure appeared from behind the gate. "How quaint! What are we celebrating?"

"Yeah, what the heck's he up to this time?"

The effeminate boy and the obnoxious redhead rounded the corner and flounced into Rolf's yard like they owned it, and Kevin groaned. "Oh God, no."

"Come! We celebrate Kevin's foray into manhood!"

"Rolf's makin' Kevin a salad," Jonny added, making little sense if any. Jimmy gave him an uncertain glance before carefully sitting down in the grass.

"How long's this gonna take, dude? I just wanna go home and sleep."

"Ahhh. Rolf is no fool, plateau-for-a-chin Kevin. You want to return to your sweet lady, yes?" Kevin slapped his hands over his face.

"Kevin's datin' somebody? Who'da thought, huh, Plank?"

"It's probably that Elise girl," Sarah mused, already looking bored. Her head was rested on her hands and she had one lock of bright orange hair curled around her index finger.

"My bets are on Isabelle," said Jimmy. "She seems to go for the athletic types."

"Please let me go home," whined the jock from behind his hands.

"The ceremony is almost complete!" Rolf dropped the flute back into his shirt, producing a match form under the ridiculous hat and striking it on his pant leg. The small group of spectators looked on in mild interest (save for a gleeful Jonny) as he pinched the match between his teeth and lit the wick at either end of the candle string. He spit it out across the lawn, where it hissed out in the dew. Wilfred oinked at it tiredly. "Raise the Radish, Kevin!"

"Jesus," Kevin said, and held the radish up in the air. Rolf let out an animalistic bellow.

When his friend finally fell silent, Kevin set the radish on the ground and sprang to his feet. "Awesome, can I go now?" He was halfway to the gate before Rolf could respond.

"The mistress of good fortune frowns upon your insolence!"

"Well _that _was weird."

"You said it, Jonny. Let's go back to my place, Jimmy."

"Let's. All this talk of unwashed vegetables is giving me hives."

Still blushing, a scowling Kevin stormed back into his house and slammed the door.


	8. Can We Skip The Dialogue Already

Hi everyone!

As of yesterday, I'm two weeks out from my tonsil removal. It was really painful from day two to about day eight, so I'm immensely relieved to be feeling better. My neck isn't sore anymore and I sleep through the entire night now - getting them removed was definitely worth it. I'm glad I could get it done before my mom loses her healthcare ... -_- I'm trying to get everything done before Obamacare forces her employer to stop offering insurance.

I posted a poll on my profile about chapter six ... I'm debating whether to post the full lemon or not. I don't want to risk having the whole fic removed, but I've seen far more "adult" and detailed fics on this site that have existed for years and haven't been removed. The full chapter is on Ao3 (and the link to my Ao3 account is on my profile too, in case you couldn't find it,) so please give me your opinion if you have the chance.

The next chapter is underway now, and I'll try to post it within a week. Thank you guys for being so encouraging and funny in your reviews.

:)

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Thick, warm darkness was suddenly pierced by an ear-splitting screech.

Lunging forward, Double Dee pushed his sleep mask above his eyes and squinted blindly. The world spun into existence, the sound reverberating harshly in his skull once more. The scholar winced and muttered to himself as he grabbed for the offending item on his nightstand.

"Vincent residence, Eddward speaking." His voice was somewhere between gravelly and nonexistent. The cordless phone felt almost powdery against his cheek from the disinfectant he'd sprayed on it the day before.

"I've got it! We'll make a website!"

The roll of Eddward's eyes at his best friend's voice was half from exasperation and half from struggling to stay awake. "It's approximately 3:05 AM, Eddy. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

"We can make self-help videos! You write the script and I'll present the stuff! Eddy's Study Tips, Double Dee, it's gold!"

"It's also 3:05 in the morning."

"Genius doesn't wait until breakfast, Sockhead. Are you writing this down? One they get popular enough, we'll pull 'em down and make DVDs. We'll have to move to a bigger city, of course, and set up a place where we do live … what are they? Seminars!"

"I'm hanging up now, Eddy."

"We'll have a business! Hot secretaries! We'll be in dictionaries!"

"_Thesauruses_, Eddy."

"-gonna be RICH!"

"I hope they make energy drinks illegal for your sake and mine, Eddy. I'm going to turn the ringer off when I hang up."

"-might even get a segment on evening news-"

"_Goodnight_, Eddy." The scholar blinked at the dimly backlit buttons and pressed 'END.'

-x-

The morning crept on in a miserable drizzle. Double Dee watched through the window as Sarah and Jimmy climbed into a friend's sleek, black car, his hands drifting idly over the turtle neck of his sweater. Ed bounced out of the house after, sporting a winter hat complete with a mid-cranial pompom. The monster movie lunchbox gleaming in the dim light made the black-haired one smile a little as he pulled his bag onto his shoulder and stepped out the door.

"It's a cold one, isn't it, Double Dee?" His towering friend trotted to meet him, smile bright despite the almost icy air.

"Interestingly so considering the time of year." Double Dee grinned in greeting, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets. He waited until Ed found a piece of fuzz on his coat to scrutinize to glance toward Kevin's house. The lights appeared to be on, but the redhead was nowhere in sight. The bite marks beneath the fabric of his sweater burned as his heart rate accelerated slightly.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it when I get home, I promise!"

Ed and Edd turned to see their short friend waving dismissively as he exited his house. Before he could slam the door, a wadded up scarf smacked him in the face. Double Dee covered his laughter with one hand as Eddy flailed furiously, stalking down the stairs and slinging the offending fabric around his neck. The outline of his mother was visible for a moment as she pulled the door shut behind him.

"Lovely weather we're having, wouldn't you say?"

At the genius's teasing, the egomaniac stopped dead in his tracks and leveled a less-than-pleased stare at him.

"Yeah yeah. I gotta fold stupid socks when I get home tonight."

"Good _heavens_," said Eddward sarcastically.

"Socks are nothing to sneeze at, Double Dee," Ed chided, taking up the rear as the three started toward the school. "One time I found a sock under the chair in my room that was so old that it changed from black to all green and splotchy."

"That's mortifying, Ed."

"No, his name was Percy."

"Can we just get to school already?"

Hair blowing in the icy breeze, Eddy stomped ahead, leaving Double Dee to sigh and follow as Ed chuckled to himself and trotted along behind.

-x-

"So, like, what are they again?"

The stunning blonde stared at the five tiny smears in the container cupped between Eddward's hands.

"Planarians, Nazz. Flatworms in the class Turbellaria. They were left over from one of the labs we could conduct for extra credit."

"Ohhh. So they're little worms."

"More or less, yes." The raven-haired boy smiled brightly. "They'll make a lovely addition to my ragtag collection of fauna."

"Awww, how cool." The cheerleader turned toward the English wing of the school and offered him a wave. "You and your worm things have a nice day, Double Dee!"

The genius beamed, stopping at his locker. "Farewell!"

The scholar gingerly placed the container of water on the top shelf of his locker, mind already racing through a thousand names for his new charges. He'd have to get out a fresh notebook to record their growth as soon as he got home. That in itself had him nearly bouncing in place. He absolutely _adored_ stationary.

"Uh, hey."

The genius's heart stopped.

A graceful hand clasped the door to his locker, pushing it open enough to make it creak in protest.

"H-hello." Eddward turned toward him, heart pounding in his ears. Kevin's hands were shoved in his pockets and his gaze was clear and sharp. The raven-haired boy lifted his hands, probably to smooth out his shirt, but they were shaking so hard that he let them fall to his sides.

Head lowered, the redhead bit his upper lip. He seemed frighteningly still compared to the genius's terrified shuddering. "How are you?"

The first attempt at words yielded nothing. Edd swallowed thickly and tried again. "I'm … not sure." His knees suddenly buckled and he leaned against the lockers before he could faint. The smell of Kevin's cologne and hair and skin had reached him.

"I gotta ask you something." Edd nodded once, then a few more times to make sure his meaning was clear. Kevin shifted his weight from one foot to the other and Double Dee noticed that he inhaled a deep breath and held it. "…Can I come over tonight?"

Fear and giddiness whirled in the smaller boy's head, making him squeak out a disbelieving laugh. "I'm not … it's a school night and I don't - it isn't - finals, Kevin, don't you have finals you should be…?" At his name passing the brilliant boy's lips, the athlete's eyes darkened and his posture drew rigid. Double Dee watched his pale throat as he swallowed.

"I had one this morning and one after lunch. None tomorrow. I can print out my schedule if you don't believe me."

"No, I-" He took in a shaky breath, then blew it out through his mouth. "I believe your statements to be accurate."

Footsteps clattered past them, snippets of conversations drifting overhead. The jock stared down at the scholar and the scholar stared back. Kevin leaned in, and though it was a casual movement, Edd let out a tiny sound and squeezed his eyes shut, legs quivering as heat exploded low in his stomach.

"Please," Kevin rasped.

The genius forced his eyes open and was left breathless by the boy inches away from him. His words were barely a whisper.

"It's imperative that you focus on preparing for your exams."

"Jesus, Edd. I can't focus on _anything_. All I can think about is tapping that sweet little ass."

Edd made a shrill noise and gripped the hem of his shirt. "_Please,_" the redhead hissed.

The black-haired boy gazed at him breathlessly and fisted his shirt as if it would hold back the ache gaining strength between his legs.

"What time do your parents get home?"

The genius gulped. "Nine-thirty."

"Yeah…" Kevin's pupils visibly expanded, engulfing his vivid green irises. "Rad. I'll be there at five."

The frenetic bliss in the petite one's chest exploded. He closed his eyes and pressed his overheated frame against the cool metal of the lockers. He licked his dry lips and exhaled, unaware that the redhead's gaze followed the movement of his tongue.

"V-very well, then."

The athlete held him in his paralyzing stare for another moment before looking at the floor. "See you then, dork."

When he turned and strode away, Double Dee turned deliberately into his locker and let out a breath. The flatworms steered drowsily over the water's surface, oblivious to the scale of their keeper's anxiety.

"Mother and Father would go into cardiac arrest if they learned of this," he murmured faintly.

"Cardiac arrest in aisle three," Ed echoed cheerfully, and Double Dee jumped and screamed.

"Good _lord_, man!" The scholar had a hand on his chest and he slumped forward, attempting to ward off the persistent spinning quality the world had taken on. "Was that really necessary?!"

"Sass is not a good look for you, mister," Ed replied, wagging a finger.

Letting out a slow and even breath, the turtleneck-clad boy began plucking the necessary books from his locker. "I do apologize, Ed. I'm at wit's end, it seems."

"Awww. All is forgotten."

A yellow hand came down to pat Double Dee, scooting his hat around on his head. Tugging his beanie back into place, the ravenette muttered, "Have you washed those today, Ed?"

"Why the heck is Kevin on your ass so much?"

Yet again, the voice of an unexpected party made the sockhead jump and release a high-pitched sound. Eddy slouched beside Ed, a single grimy notebook tucked under his arm. Eddward turned to face him, finding his usual skeptical expression in place.

"Kevin was merely inquiring as to the finals schedule for underclassmen," Edd explained, quietly horrified at his ability to concoct a lie so abruptly. "I'll admit, I was surprised that he queried me in particular. Being aware of much of the school's scheduling makes me a bit of an expert, I guess."

"Speaking of experts, have ya come up with any new ideas for our self-help business?" The shortest of the Eds lit up immediately, holding his head higher. "Lumpy and I are gonna brainstorm in study hall. We need a catchy tagline for all those fliers and commercials."

"Perhaps we should secure a place among the school organizations first, Eddy."

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Sockhead. We'll work on that too. Is there, like, a form we gotta fill out before we become an official club?"

Double Dee sighed, and when he refused to respond, Eddy crossed his arms and mirrored his nonplussed expression. Ed stared past them, scratching his nose.

Throwing his free arm in the air, the genius exclaimed, "Oh, all right already! I'll pick the forms up after lunch."

Eddy grinned. "_That's_ what I like to hear."

"Don't forget to scrub behind your ears," Ed called over his shoulder, following Eddy as the halls began to empty of students. Double Dee waved back, shutting his locker door and hurrying to his next class.

The genius wouldn't realize that he had forgotten to get the paperwork until just after one in the morning.

-x-

"Well, after her brother called, we didn't hear anything for a while, so Mom and I were like … we didn't want to call back and make things worse, y'know?"

Rolf muttered something unintelligible, scooping one of the bluish seafood balls out of the sandwich bag in his lunchbox. Nazz took a sip of her juice and held up a finger to indicate that she needed a minute.

Kevin turned his cheeseburger, endlessly searching for a spot that would spark his appetite. The blonde beside him resumed her story as the figures hunched over the table devoured their meager lunches. Disgusted, the jock set down his burger and fidgeted anxiously as Nazz gestured with the hand not spearing green beans with a fork, tightening his grip on his knees as he tried not to think about the taste of the brilliant sophomore's skin.

An elbow prodded his bicep, making Kevin's head snap up. Nazz was giggling, eyes on a figure moving quickly across the room toward the corner lunch table. "Double Dee is so cute. He cracks me _up._"

Fighting the urge to trace Edd's backside with his eyes, the redhead smirked at the cheerleader. "I dunno what I'm supposed to say, Nazz."

"That he's fucking delectable?"

Nazz's expression flashed to one of mock disgust as she looked at Nat. The animated boy met her stare and then Kevin's startled one, running a hand through his green hair. "What, am I supposed to pretend it isn't true? Have you guys ever seen him get all excited over a science project? Holy _shit_ is it cute."

"He was showing me these, like, worms earlier," Nazz agreed. "They were left over from a lab and he's taking them home. He was so happy about them."

"Ohhh..." Nat peered across the room, not at all concerned with being noticed. Eddward was laying papers out in front of Eddy, talking animatedly and gesturing delicately. His black turtleneck looked as if it might swallow him up. "Aye. Cap'n Nat would plunder _that _booty."

Ignoring his hormone-fueled agitation, Kevin leveled a bored expression at his hyperactive friend. "Is there anyone you _wouldn't_ rail?"

Nat whirled to face him, setting his elbows on the table and pointing a finger. "No, and that's _nothing_ to be ashamed of."

"Hey guys!"

The cheerleader and the jock both jumped, turning to face the figure looming between them. "Hey, Jonny," the blonde greeted, trying to smile politely and failing. The olive-skinned boy had Plank tucked under his arm and a rainbow of plastic, crackling baggies.

"The foreign language club is selling fruit and nuts! Anybody wanna buy?"

"…I take that back," Nat uttered thoughtfully. Kevin turned back to his friend and grinned.


End file.
